Seats in moving vehicles are generally rigidly affixed to a portion of the vehicle so that when a vehicle goes over an uneven surface vibrations and shocks (depending on the nature of the surface) are transferred from the portion of the vehicle that the seat is affixed to, to the seat, and subsequently to a person if someone is sitting in the seat.
Where the vehicle is a boat, the surface is often very uneven and bumpy. Furthermore, boats do not have suspension and shock absorber systems between the vehicle and the surface (the boat and the water respectively) such as in cars. Therefore, the vibrations and shocks of the boat as it goes over waves are typically transferred to the seat in full.
Some seat suspension systems are known for boat seats, but the suspension assembly is often on the outside (e.g. an external spring around the seat support). Unfortunately such assemblies are prone to wear and corrosion as the spring is exposed to the elements. Furthermore, there is a danger of other objections being caught by the spring either damaging the object, the spring, or both.
Another disadvantage of such systems is that usually the suspension assembly is either an integral part of the seat of the support. This means that to upgrade or exchange an existing seat/support system, one of the two needs to be replaced and, in some cases, both need to be replaced due to incompatible fittings. Moreover, once the assembly is installed it is not easy to remove the assembly and therefore the assembly is not easily portable between different boats and/or seats.
It is an aim of this invention to provide an improved boat seat support which overcomes or ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages or problems described above, or which at least provides a useful alternative.